G L P: A N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



C 



GLEANED BY ASKING 



Geo. S. Demuth 



QUESTION. 

 — W hat is 

 the best way 

 to transfer 

 from a Standard 

 10-frame hive to 

 the Jumbo? I wish 

 to save all the 

 brood and have the 

 bees ready for the 

 honey flow. I have 



a new Jumbo hive ready with full sheets of foun- 

 dation. C. E. Jeffrey. 

 Kentucky. 



Answer. — Since you are changing to the 

 Jumbo depth of frame you no doubt expect 

 to produce extracted honey. In that event 

 transfer two or three of the Standard combs, 

 together with the queen, to the Jumbo 

 brood-chamber as soon as the colony needs 

 more room in the spring. Put the Jumbo 

 brood-chamber on top (or below) the Stan- 

 dard with a queen-excluder between. Three 

 or four days later or when the queen has 

 begun to lay in the newly built comb in the 

 Jumbo frames, shake all the bees off from the 

 Standard combs which were in the Jumbo 

 brood-chamber, to be sure that the queen is 

 not taken away with these combs, and put 

 them back into the Standard brood-chamber, 

 filling up the Jumbo brood-chamber with 

 the frames of foundation. As soon as the 

 foundation is all drawn out, put the Stan- 

 dard brood-chamber on top (if it has been 

 below) where it now becomes a super to be 

 tiered up as other supers are added. 

 Age of Larvae for Queens. 

 Question. — After a colony is made queenless 

 how long a time mu.st elapse before it is impos- 

 sible for it to rear another queen from the brood 

 of the former one? William Thomas. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — After nine days the brood is all 

 sealed, so it is certain that no .queens can be 

 reared after that time. If all queen-cells 

 are destroyed before the ninth day, the bees 

 will attempt to rear a queen from old lar- 

 vae, even those almost ready to seal, if 

 there are no younger larvae; but these, of 

 course, would not result in a real queen, for 

 the feeding period would be too short. 

 Maples as Honey Plants. 

 Question. — Do maple trees have nectar and 

 pollen or pollen only? Gustav Stolze. 



Connecticut. 



Answer. — The different species of maple 

 yield both nectar and pollen. The impor- 

 tance of the maples as honey plants is prob- 

 ably not fully appreciated. Because they 

 bloom so early surplus honey is not often 

 stored from this source. The red maples, 

 the box-elder or ash-leaf maples and the sil- 

 ver maples are especially valuable, but 

 bloom quite early in March and early April 

 in the North. The sugar maple, which 

 blooms later, sometimes yields large quanti- 

 ties of nectar. If the colonies are strong in 

 the spring and the weather is favorable even 

 for a few days when the maples are in bloom 

 thev sometimes store rapidlv, sometimes 

 gaining 20 pounds or more. This is where 



1 



April, 1922 



good wintering 

 makes a great 

 difference in the 

 spring. It is not 

 at all unusual to 

 see strong colo- 

 nies gain in 

 their stores dur- 

 ing bad weather 

 in the spring, 

 while weak colonies in the same apiary are 

 starving. Strong colonies are able to send 

 a large force of bees into the field when- 

 ever the sun shines for an hour or so and 

 it is often surprising how much nectar they 

 are able to carry in even during bad weath- 

 er. Maples often yield freely while there is 

 snow on the ground. 



Age of Brood in Concentric Circles. 

 Question.- — On a comb having concentric circles 

 of brood of different ages, if the outside circle 

 is pupae, the second larvae, the third pupae and 

 the center is empty cells where young bees have 

 .lUst emerged, how many days has the queen been 

 laying on this comb? John J. Valley. 



Ohio. 



Answer. — The queen has been laying on 

 this comb for not less than 42 days. Of 

 course, this process could be repeated so 

 that she could have been laying on this 

 comb much longer. You can figure this out 

 by remembering that the brood is sealed 

 alDOut nine days after the eggs are laid and 

 the young bees emerge about 21 days after 

 the laying of the egg. The condition you 

 describe is found only in very weak colo- 

 nies or when there is but little brood-rear- 

 ing, as in the spring or Avinter. 



Feeding Honey Granulated in Combs. 

 Question.- — What is the best way to feed up 

 honey that is granulated in unsealed combs ? 

 Montana. Myra Pickering. 



Answer. — By filling up the cells with wa- 

 ter and hanging the comb in the hive, the 

 combs of granulated honey can be fed to 

 the bees. The cells can be filled with water 

 by laying the combs down flat and pouring 

 on the water from a sprinkling can, or even 

 by pouring the water from an elevation of 

 four or five feet. An old pail with a row of 

 holes punched in the bottom, five holes to 

 the inch, is excellent for filling combs with 

 water. 



Spraying When Petals Begin to Drop. 

 Question. — We are moving an out-apiary to an 

 orchard. The owner says that he sprays his apple 

 trees with lime and sulphur when the petals begin 

 to fall. Will this be detrimental to the bees if 

 left in the orchard at that time or should they be 

 moved away for a few days when the trees are 

 sprayed? J. P. Williams. 



Missouri. 



Answer. — So far as known, lime and sul- 

 phur spray as used for spraying does not 

 harm the bees in any way; but, no doubt 

 the orehardist intends to add arsenic of 

 lead for the spray applied when the petals 

 begin to fall. For best results in spraying 

 most authorities advise that the spraying 

 be done after 90% of the petals are down. 

 When this is done there is little if any dan- 



